Jetstream and Sideswipe travelled for miles on end, but they finally made it to Nashville. Jetstream had Brian's address saved in his head, plus he had visited a couple of times, be it dropping him off or picking him up. The two sports cars rolled down the street to his home, their engines rumbling and heads turning. Jetstream drove onto Brian's driveway as Sideswipe parked on the side of the road. Jetstream horned twice before revving his engine three times. Brian peeped through the windows of his house, spotting the two cars parked in his driveway.
There was only one person who could drive up to his house in such a way. He cautiously walked out of the house, still keeping his suspicions up. His wife and three boys watched from the safety of their window as Brian walked up. Jetstream lowered his window, revealing that there was no driver inside. Brian heaved a sigh of relief, figuring out who it was.
"Jet. You had me scared for a second" he said walking comfortably to the car.
"You should've seen your face. I bet you thought it was a hitman" he joked.
"Yada, yada, yada" he said opening the door. "How have you been? You promised to visit months ago but you never came"
"Sorry B. You know how these new authorities are. They keep us on a tight leash and didn't let me leave. I wanted to come, honest, but they didn't let me" he answered sincerely.
"No worries, protocols and shit. They can be a pain. Speaking of things, this is one sick ride. I wonder where the CIA pulled this one out of" he said admiring the red interior and the viper badge on the steering wheel.
"Nothing to do with those guys. I got this at a car meet"
"Sneaking out again? Something never change. Who did you bring along this time? That car in the back is too rare to be parked on the side of the road just like that"
"Oh, that's Sideswipe. Both of us are on a two man mission" he answered.
"Two man mission? Then I guess the visit is a side quest then. Is it a con raid? Some type of facility decommissioning?" he asked enthusiastically.
"No, it isn't any of those things. Brian, you are my mission"
Brian was taken off guard here. "What do you mean I am your mission?" he asked hesitantly.
Were they sent to kill him? Erase his family? Just what was their mission? Brian tensed up a bit, sweat beginning to form on his forehead as he awaited the worse.
"I didn't mean to scare you or anything but Optimus sent us here to get you. You see a few days ago, the CIA attacked us. They brought in this special group of men we'd never seen before with badges we don't recognized. They shot at us with the intent to kill. We had to escape and now we're in hiding. We need to know why"
"Hmmm. I thought you were going to say something like they sent you after me but this is bad too" he said relieved.
"I know this is probably going to put you in your government's bad books and you might even become a target yourself. If you're going to help us, you have to count the cost. If you're in, theres no turning back"
"Jet, everything that I have now, all the time that my family and I get to spend together is because of you. You've saved my life a bunch of times. The peace and joy of me seeing my kids grow up these past two years is because of you. I haven't forgotten the missile you took for me back in Chicago during the battle. You've helped me out during my service. It's time I return the favor"
"Thank you very much Brian. Your help means the world to us"
"No problem. I'm gonna go brief the wife and kids. I'll be back in a few"
"You're good to go man"
Bumblebee drove Sam all the way to the an abandoned factory out of town, that was where Optimus chose to lay low. Bumblebee arrived with their ally in tow, as they came up on Prime looking out into the open through a torn down window. The door opened slowly as Sam took a step out. Optimus turned around; his eyes falling upon Sam couldn't help but bring a smile to his faceplates.
"Sam" he said walking towards him as Bee began transforming in the background.
"Optimus"
"It's good to see you old friend. Bumblebee tells me that you are doing great at home"
"I am" he said with a smile. "I am"
"I am grateful for your help. We understand the threat that may arise with your involvement, yet you choose to still help us. We are honored by your bravery"
"Don't mention it. Bee tells me that you guys were set up. Whoever is behind this is definitely working with the CIA, either from the inside or the outside. At this point in time, their entire chain of command could be compromised. The government maybe in on it for all we know for now" Sam explained.
"Who could be doing this? Why are they doing this? After all we've done" Optimus said with sadness.
"That's the thing about us humans. No matter what other people do for us, no matter the good shown to us, we can still turn on them. We can be self-entitled bastards sometimes" Sam said.
"But now we need to focus on getting info on whom or what could be giving the orders". Do we have any leads?" Sam asked.
"None yet. Jetstream and Sideswipe went to get Brian. He could be of help to us" Prime said.
"Who is Brian?"
"Old pal… of… Jet. Worked with us… at… NEST" Bee said.
"That's actually a pretty good play. Anyone else in a higher position?"
"Ironhide and Ratchet went to look for Lennox. So far, they have not found anything leading to him" Optimus answered.
Sam let out a deep breath. "We'll have to work with what we have"
Ironhide and Ratchet arrived in Madison, Michigan but they were cold on leads. Ironhide drove up to the home he dropped Lennox at in the first movie but the home had new owners now and didn't appreciate two large vehicles scoping out their house.
"This is getting frustrating" Ironhide huffed.
"We must exercise patience Ironhide" Ratchet advised as the two cruised down the highway.
"Lennox has covered his tracks. He has essentially taken his family off the books, hidden them from the world. It's quite impressive but now it's a hindrance to us"
"We must hold on to faith and continue searching. Eventually we will find him"
"I hope so"
Brian briefed his family about the situation and told them the cost of it, the boys were scared but their mother assured them that they would be fine. He told them to get ready to travel, they were going to hit the road and hide somewhere safe until the heat died down, but first and foremost, he needed to meet a friend of his. Jetstream and Sideswipe drove off with Brian, he had called one of his friends in the CIA to help them get an idea on what's going on.
"Sir, we've spotted strange cars appearing at Sam Witwicky's house in D.C and Brian Banks' house in Nashville" an agent said after walking through Attinger's door.
The old man sat up from his seat and looked at Savoy who had cocky smirk on his face.
"I told you they'd go after the humans" Savoy said with his ego growing.
"Thank you. Have men deployed to their house immediately. Take them all. We need to know where the bots are and what their plans are" he instructed.
"My men will have them in our clutches within the hour. I had them on standby in both states" Savoy replied.
"Excellent work" Attinger praised. "We can use the humans to bait the bots out of hiding and then we can end this. Our partner would be more than obliged to help us out"
Five black Suburbans were deployed to both addresses. Attinger tagged them as a threat to national security and had agents storm their houses to pick them up. Meanwhile, Jet and Sideswipe were parked at a diner as Brian had agreed to meet his friend there. It was the only place within reach for both of them to meet up on such short notice.
They had agreed to meet in the parking lot but were not going to talk in the diner. It was too open for that, they were going to hold the meeting in Jetstream. Brian stood outside the Viper, his eyes scanning as he awaited his friend. He only got distracted when people asked for the odd picture. His friend finally arrived, he drove a red dodge challenger with two racing stripes running across the hood of the car all the way to the trunk. He stepped out of the car and walked towards where Brian told him he would be.
He had Sunglasses on and wore a cream polo T-shirt, brown cargo shorts, white trainers and a black open top tennis hat to show off his curly blonde hair. He spotted Brian resting on the door of Jetstream with his hands in his pockets and his legs crossed.
"Now that's one hell of a ride" he said walking up to him.
"Well look who it is. I had a feeling you were the one in the red challenger" Brian said with a smile.
"It's good to see you Frank" he said as the two hugged.
"Same here Brian" he replied.
"Let's talk in the car"
The two sat down and got straight to business.
"Man, the interior is just as impressive as it looks. I bet it sounds great to" Frank questioned.
"It sure does" Brian said.
"I wonder why you called me out of all people after all these years"
"Well I did say I needed your help. Plus you're the only person I know that has the information I need"
"Hmmm" he hummed. "What is it exactly that you need?" he asked.
"It's about the CIA. Remember that time you asked where I was serving in the states and I told you it was classified?"
"Yeah"
"Well, I was working for NEST" he whispered. "The organization that fought with the aliens from Chicago? I was there"
Frank was stunned, he wasn't expecting such news to be divulged to him and not in such a setting.
"What? That's crazy. So Chicago, Egypt, you were there?"
"Yep. Loaded out and shooting evil alien metal"
"That's insane. Wait, why are you telling me this?"
"Some 'friends' of mine ran into trouble with the CIA. They had been under their care for a while and out of the blues they had an unnamed group men attack them. They're currently on the run and reached out to me for help. I was wondering if you knew anything" Brian asked.
This was a big information dump. Frank reclined into his seat as he processed the information Brian had just given him. He took off his glasses and placed them on the dash before using both arms to rub his face.
"This… this is big. Even for me man"
"I know this is a lot but they really need my help. Anything would be good right now"
"Well, I'm retired now and I'm not really on the in on what goes on in the agency anymore, but what I do know is that the new guy is ruthless. He had a lot of people laid off and there's a lot of shady stuff that started popping up before I left. I don't know exactly what you're looking for but I still know a couple of my buddies that are still there. I'll hit em up and see what they have to say"
"Thank you Frank, for everything. This really means a lot"
"You're welcome. I'll meet with them as soon as possible and I'll get back to you in a bit"
The two shook hands before Frank departed. Jet was content, they finally had a lead and someone they could use to get some information.
"Well that was fruitful" Jet said from his speakers.
"AT least we got some insight now"
"Yeah. I'll relay our findings to the others. Tell them we have a lead. Then we can get your family safe"
Jet's engines started and so did Sideswipe as the two left the parking lot.
"This is Jetstream to Autobots. We had a meeting with a friend of Brian's, he's retired CIA. He said he'll ask some of his pals that still work there to do a little digging for us. That's the best we could do, but he did say that there were some shady things happening before he left" the captain reported.
"Good job both of you. You have made good progress" Optimus praised the two. "Ironhide, Ratchet, status?"
"Not much here, we haven't found Lennox or his family. Frankly speaking, this has been a wild goose chase with nothing to show for it" Ironhide reported.
"Understood. You may rendezvous with Bumblebee and I in D.C"
"Copy that"
Optimus turned to Sam who stood next to Bumblebee. He was eager to know what they had learned for the others.
"Jetstream and Sideswipe have made progress. They've gotten hold of our ally and have a lead on things. That's all we know for now but we're hoping to get more light on things in the coming hours"
"That's great. At least we got something now"
"Indeed"
"I think I'm going to go back home. Check on my family and possibly tell them to lay low for a while. It's better to be safe than sorry"
Optimus nodded as Bee transformed. Sam got in and was on his way home, hopefully he and Brian weren't too late.